A month passed before Jack seemed fully happy with how Torchwood was. Myfanwy had finally been allowed to move from the Tardis to the new base and the first few days had been a bit testy on everyone. However, she slowly started to enjoy it quite a lot, especially the fish that Ianto got her. Liverpool wasn't as close to the sea as Cardiff was, obviously, but that didn't stop Ianto from getting Myfanwy's favorite food.

There was a backroom to Jack's office that they were now using as a bedroom. Though Ianto had owned a flat, he'd practically lived at Torchwood anyway so there really wasn't any difference now.

The upstairs to the building was still undone though and it was really the only part that was. The first floor wasn't exactly done either but everything had been placed so that it could be turned into anything at a moment's notice and it was still very clean.

Morgan was fitting in quite well to, really being quite a lot of help, especially when Jack was trying to sneak off with any extra cake they had. Nevertheless, now that the building of it was done, Torchwood had to really get started.

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory didn't come as often anymore, knowing that what Ianto and Jack were doing was really important. The Tardis remained in Ianto's dreams so he was lucky in still having a connection with his mother though.

As time passed, the first few months were a bit more troublesome, just trying to get use to everything and how different it was than it had been before. There was a lot more sending people back home that had crash landed here or gone through the hole in space. There were also many times that they had to corporate with the police, explaining to them that certain murders or incidents were impossible if the current suspect had really done it.

Of course, the stranger cases and murders now began going to Torchwood which made things easier. The police department didn't seem to be to happy about this but those people at Westminster must've actually listened to Jack because the police department didn't do anything except complain.

Having Morgan was a lot more helpful as well. She maintained the base and made sure Myfanwy didn't decide to chew on any equipment while at the same time sending information that was needed for any current case. She was also a lot of help when they needed to track down a suspect or culprit.

As it soon reached a year, the Doctor came back once more, this time alone.

"Where are Amy and Rory?" asked Jack.

"Out having a little time to themselves," the Doctor said. "I decided to come over and see how everything was."

"Different," Ianto replied, "but we're hanging in there."

"You know, it would probably help if you had someone else," said the Doctor.

"I know," Jack responded. "We just haven't really found the right person."

The Doctor nodded. "If you don't mind me saying so, I think it's because you're basing it to much on the former members, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, and Toshiko Sato. You'll never find another member if you're just trying to find another one of them. There never will be another one of them, or at least there shouldn't be but you know what I mean."

"Yes, it is harder letting go of the past than I had expected it to be," Ianto replied.

"I'll take that to mean you looked up on your family and Gwen," said the Doctor.

Ianto said, "Yes, but only far enough to know that they had an alright life. I didn't look into their descendants. In all honesty, I'm surprised I was lucky enough for them all to have a fairly good life."

They went on to discuss more of their work and later Jack asked the Doctor if he would like to join them for dinner. "It's not much," Jack said, "but it might be nice, dining with friends for once."

The Doctor smiled, "That sounds like an excellent idea!"

Ianto made the Doctor a cup of tea and himself and Jack grabbed a beer. All they had was take-out (even this far in the future and they had kept that beautiful idea) but it was surprisingly nice. Somehow they got lucky and nothing called Jack or Ianto away too.

They also talked less about work at that point and simply the universe. Jack and the Doctor told different stories, showing the beauty of the worlds they had seen and Ianto listened with great curiosity. Morgan listened as well but stayed silent, letting them have their time together.

When they finished dinner, the Doctor carefully set his cup of tea down and stood up.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you later then," the Doctor said still smiling.

For just a second, Ianto seemed to notice that Jack's look faltered. He didn't know why and it was so quick that a part of him didn't believe he had seen it but he was sure he had.

Jack said, "I'll see you around Doctor. Tell Amy and Rory we said hi."

"Of course I will."

The Doctor walked over to his Tardis. Before he flew off, Ianto gave a loving touch to the wood and said, I'll see you later then Mother. Keep care of your TimeLord.

And you of your Captain. Good bye Ianto Jones, replied the Tardis.

Ianto stepped back, signaling that he was done speaking with her and the Doctor nodded, giving one last smile. He then hopped into his Tardis and that familiar sound was made once more.

When they were gone, Ianto turned to Jack and asked, "What was that?"

"I don't understand."

"When he said I'll see you later, you seemed shocked by this. What's so important about that phrase?" asked Ianto.

A small sad smile came across Jack's face. "I suppose it's because you've never travelled with the Doctor. Not for an extended period of time anyway. If you had you would've noticed."

"Noticed what?" asked Ianto.

"He says goodbye so often, but he always comes back afterwards. It's when he says I'll see you later that you know that's the last time you'll ever see him. The Doctor hates goodbyes, so he simply makes it so that it always seem like he'll come back."

"What? That was his goodbye! How dare he! After everything that's happened, you should get more of a goodbye than that," Ianto said angrily. As he said this, in his mind he also noted that this was the first time the Tardis had said goodbye to him, the exact opposite of the Doctor.

"It's alright. Besides, I'd rather this be our goodbye than what was to be his last goodbye. At least this time I get to see him happy one last time," said Jack. "I'm more worried about you not seeing the Tardis again."

"It's alright. I still have a connection with her. I may not be able to directly talk to her but she's always there, watching over me and myself watching over her," Ianto replied. "I still don't think the Doctor should've done that though."

Jack smiled, "No matter, he's gone and now there's just us and Torchwood."

Nodding, Ianto said, "Well then, I think the Doctor was right. We do need to finally get another member."

"But who?" asked Jack.

Ianto shrugged. "Don't know but I think we'll know them when we see them."

Weeks passed and life returned to its usual state for them now. One day, Ianto sat at the little counter which had now, like the past Torchwood, become a visitor's center. They still hadn't decided what to do with the second floor.

The day was young and most of the people out were the ones finishing their morning jog or on their way to work. However, as Ianto was reading the current newspaper, though newspad would be a more proper word since it now came on updates on electronic pads than actual paper (which Ianto quite missed turning through), a young man ran into the building.

"Please, you have to help me," he said quickly.

At first, Ianto only glanced over the pad but then quickly looked back up. The young man appeared to be a Darvein. He looked a lot like a Filushton with blue scales and slightly webbed fingers. However, Filushton didn't have hair and this one had quite a lot of black hair and black eyebrows. Another was the extremely human eyes he had.

Ianto stood up. "What's wrong?"

"I know you have no reason to help me but please, I've have to hide before they find me!" the Darvein said swiftly, his accent Welsh. He seemed worried but not to the level of panicking.

Ianto was about to direct him upstairs to hide when he noticed just how familiar he looked, the eyes, the way the nose was shaped. It was odd. For whatever reason, he felt like he should defiantly send him down, not up.

"Over there are a flight of stairs. Take them to the basement."

The man turned to where Ianto had pointed to but stopped and frowned. "What staircase?"

"Oh, sorry," said Ianto, pressing a small button under the table. A small portion of the wall moved to reveal a staircase. "There you go."

The Darvein only froze have a second before darting to the stairs, the wall then closing behind him. At that moment, a group of humans came in. Glancing over their person's, Ianto could see the knives hidden in their clothes.

"Something I can do to help you gentlemen?" asked Ianto.

"Where'd he go? Where'd the Darvein go?" asked one of them.

"I don't know what you mean."

"We saw him come in here! Now where'd he go?"

Ianto shook his head. "I honestly have no idea who you're talking about. Darveins are utterly unpredictable though. Perhaps he was able to teleport here or make a duplicate of himself. Who knows. They are sneaky creatures are they not?"

A different one came forward, still frowning however and not looking as sure as the others were starting to. "I don't know. How do we know you're not hiding him? Maybe you're a supporter of those Darveins!"

"We only have a second floor. Look up there if you must," Ianto replied, motioning them towards the stairs which they quickly ran up. Of course, there wasn't anything up there and they came down disappointed.

"Fine, you were right. But you'd say if you saw him in here," said one of the men.

"Of course. What else would I do?" Ianto replied.

Seeming satisfied but disappointed, they left. Ianto waited a few more moments before heading down to the basement. He could see the Darvein, looking around with wonder. Jack was over by the elevator that led farther down but it was clear the Darvein hadn't seen him yet.

"So, why were those guys chasing you?" asked Ianto, walking down.

"I had stolen some clothes," the Darvein replied, not looking ashamed at all. "My other clothes had gotten ruined."

Ianto raised an eyebrow and replied, "Why not just buy some?"

"I don't have any money. Besides, I stole them from those jerks and not some established business."

"Why'd you need the new clothes? Oh, don't touch that," he added gesturing to the thing the Darvein had been messing with.

"Sorry. But my old clothes got ruined because of a brawl I got into."

Ianto looked him over. "You don't exactly look beat up so it couldn't have been that bad."

The Darvein moved his clothes from over his chest to reveal broken and twisted scales that had turned an ugly black color from their natural blue. "Care to say that again?" asked the Darvein.

"My apologies," Ianto replied walking towards him. "So, tell me this then, is that why you ran away? Because you were injured?"

"No, of course not!" the Darvein replied, seeming a bit annoyed by Ianto's words. "I ran because I didn't want to fight them. There's no point in fighting wanna-be thugs. Besides, I would've just given people a reason to hate Darveins even more if I'd beat up some humans."

"You think you could've taken them all on?" asked Jack, finally coming forward and letting his presence be known.

The Darvein jumped slightly but didn't show as much surprise as others might. "I know I could've taken them all. The wounds I just showed you, which isn't all of them by the way, was caused by nine blokes. As you saw, that group was only made of five."

"So what did you do to make the other group mad?" asked Jack.

"Being born I suppose. I heard it was better in England than in Wales. Clearly it wasn't," the Darvein replied.

"So is that the only reason you came to England?" asked Ianto.

The Darvein shook his head. However he didn't elaborate on it and replied with, "What made you come here? You do have a Welsh accent. And what about you? You're American aren't you?"

Jack nodded. "Close enough. So, what's your name?"

"Phlaxyiven."

Jack blinked several times. "Do you happen to have a first name?"

The Darvein glared and said, "That is my first name. It was my father's. My last name comes from my mother though. It's Cooper."

Ianto could tell that Jack was noticing the familiar features that he had and the name Cooper brought back memories. Maybe, just maybe . . .

"Do you happen to be related to a Gwen Cooper?" asked Jack, disbelief and curiosity in his eyes.

"Probably though I honestly believed she was a myth. Grandpa always went on about the Gwen Cooper and her stories of aliens before the Earth actually knew of them. Most kids had traditional bedtime stories. I had the tales of Gwen Cooper."

Ianto and Jack looked at each other. "And. . . was anyone else mentioned in these stories?" questioned Jack.

"Uh, I think so. I know there was a Tosh something. She was always my favorite character."

"And the husband of Gwen Cooper? Was he ever mentioned?" asked Ianto.

The Darvein looked a bit confused at why they would be so interested but replied, "Rhys."

Jack started laughing and soon found he couldn't stop. "Of all the people in the world!"

"What—"

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness and this is Ianto Jones."

His eyes went wide. "But those names were in the stories!"

"Of course, we were both great friends of Gwen's," replied Ianto.

"You I can believe being here," said Phlaxyiven, pointing to Jack. "If the stories are true then you cannot die. But you died during the 456 incident. Or was that story wrong?"

"It's kind of wrong," Ianto replied. "It's a bit hard to explain."

The Darvein nodded and then looked around. "So where am I? It makes me think of the Hub in the stories."

"This is Torchwood," said Ianto.

"What's that?"

Interesting, thought Jack. It would appear that Gwen had told many stories that had passed down generations but had never mentioned Torchwood.

"Well, in your stories it's where Gwen got started, at the Hub. It was Torchwood Three," said Ianto.

"It seems like all you're saying is true but why tell me this? Despite all the stories I've never heard of Torchwood so it must've been top secret, if the stories are true."

"Well we can always wipe your memory," Jack said, "or we could do something else."

"Like what?"

"You could work for us. You said that you fought off nine grown men, any other skills that could help us? If you've heard the stories then you know the kind of things we deal with," replied Jack.

"I have medical training though I never finished school," replied Phlaxyiven.

"Why didn't you?" asked Ianto.

"It involves my leaving Wales," he said and it was clear that he would speak no more on that. "However, I was nearly done. I only had a month left and I was top of my class."

Jack nodded and then asked, "So what do you think of that? Working for me Phl-Fax-Pil- how about I just call you Lax."

"It's either Phlaxyiven or Cooper. I will be called nothing else."

"Alright then Cooper. How do you feel about working for us?" asked Jack.

"I have nothing else. If you've got a place for me to sleep then fine," Cooper said.

"For now, yes, but we can set you up somewhere," said Ianto. "I'm sure we can find a flat somewhere near."

"Fine but I just have one other question yet. Is it just us three?"

In answer, Myfanwy made a loud croak from her loft as Morgan said, "Very nice to meet you Mr. Cooper."

"What was that? And you have a pterodactyl?" asked Cooper.

Ianto smiled. "That's Morgan, our A.I. That pterodactyl is Myfanwy, originally from the Cretaceous Period and after that twenty-first century Cardiff."

Cooper shook his head in amazement. "This is more amazing than any story."

"Oh I don't know, have you heard of the time Ianto was a woman?" asked Jack.

"Jack!" yelled out Ianto. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't talk about that again?"

"Oh yeah."

"Well you can't just end it there. I have to hear how this happened!" said Cooper, actually looking quite interested about this.

"Oh no! Jack, you say one more word and I'll have Morgan permanently lock up the fridge to you," Ianto replied.

"How would you do that?"

"I don't know but I'd figure out a way," said Ianto.

For the first time since being in there, Cooper gave a laugh though it quickly turned into a small grimace of pain. "You don't happen to have any medical equipment do you?"

"Of course," said Jack as he began walking towards the elevator. Cooper followed but Ianto stayed where he was, watching them go.

The moment the elevator went down, Ianto went over to the computer.

"Don't worry, I've already pulled up everything on Phlaxyiven Cooper," said Morgan.

"Thanks," Ianto said.

Ianto knew better than anybody that everyone has their secrets. However, he needed to make sure that there wasn't anything in Cooper's past that could cause trouble. Something horrible had clearly happened to Cooper and he hadn't said anything about where his current family was. Ianto just didn't know what.